SALES FORECASTING AND DEMAND PLANNING PROCESSES: RESULTS OF A SURVEY IN ITALY

摘要

Although every business function needs accurate sales forecasts, very little attention has been devoted to examining how the sales forecasting and demand planning (SF&DP) process should be managed. Having the goal of highlighting the critical issues in the management of the SF&DP process along with the best practices found in world-class organizations, this paper reports the results of a research performed on over 25 companies in Italy. Results show which functions are mainly involved the SF&DP process and how different managerial approaches can influence the effectiveness of the forecast performance. The cross industry analysis, carried out in the Beverage, Grocery and Pharmaceutical industries, can help supply chain managers to better understand their own "as-is" status and how the same issue has been approached and solved in a different business environment.